This paper illustrates the main results of a statistical analysis performed on a data set obtained by integrating experimental observations collected during many oceanographic research projects on the northern Adriatic Sea (NAS). The observations cover the last 20 years and provide a robust base for the assessment of the current state and scales of variability for temperature, salinity, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and chlorophyll. The results confirmed a clear seasonal cycle and marked spatial gradients for most parameters in all seasons. The largest proportion of the river Po input flows south along the coast, but significant eastward freshwater fluxes are also present in all seasons, more markedly in winter. The coastal belt south of the Lagoon of Venice is the most eutrophic area, mainly because of river inputs, while an oligotrophic condition prevails along the eastern part of the basin. Small-scale structures, including eddies and jets, are permanent features of the system. In order to test the existence of significant trends of variation in the physical and biogeochemical parameters, the data set has been enlarged by including observations from 1976. Analyses of trends over 30 years show an increase in salinity, which might be a consequence of both reduced outflows from rivers and a more sustained inflow of water along eastern coast, and a clear reduction in concentrations of phosphate and ammonia in coastal areas, probably due to new regulations regarding the control of nutrient loads and possibly suggesting the occurrence of cultural oligotrophication. No decrease is instead observed for concentration of nitrate
[1] The dynamic of biogeochemical properties in a coastal area of the northern Adriatic Sea (Gulf of Trieste) is analyzed through (1) identification of a small number of water typology classes and classification of samples, obtained by means of a novel multivariate classification procedure based on a combination of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and ''traditional'' clusterization algorithms, (2) interpretation of each class based on biogeochemical properties and ecological phenomena likely to occur in the water body, and (3) discussion of time evolution and spatial distribution of water classes which summarized and provided indications on the system's space and time evolution. Basing itself on a multivariate comparison, the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) grouped 1292 samples collected in a 3-year-long monitoring program in 187 sets and identified a representative synthetic sample for each group. These groups were further classified in seven clusters, which identified the water typology. The complexity of the space and time coevolution of 12 variables was so reduced to variation of one categorical variable. Results included an objectively derived typology of water masses and their typical temporal succession, a spatial dividing based on biogeochemical processes, a conceptual scheme of biogeochemistry in the Gulf. Results clearly indicated the importance of river input in triggering plankton blooms and pointed out that trophodynamics followed current paradigms of marine ecosystem functioning, with shifts from conditions dominated by classical food chain to situations in which most of the energy flowed through the autotrophic and heterotrophic parts of the microbial food web.Citation: Solidoro, C., V. Bandelj, P. Barbieri, G. Cossarini, and S. Fonda Umani (2007), Understanding dynamic of biogeochemical properties in the northern Adriatic Sea by using self-organizing maps and k-means clustering,
within the framework of the European program INTERREG III Italy-Slovenia. Spatial and temporal distributions of water density, dissolved oxygen, nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and silicon) and chlorophyll a are presented. Multivariate methods such as fuzzy k-means, self-organising maps and cluster analysis were used to identify the different water masses and to characterise the temporal and spatial variability of the main biogeochemical features present in the area. The results confirm that the Po River outflows and the meteorological forcing factors are the main components triggering the alternation of stratification and mixing of the water column and that strongly affect the trophic state of the basin. In general, oligotrophic conditions dominate, and were more pronounced offshore, but mesotrophy occurred episodically in May 2004 and July 2005, when phytoplankton blooms were observed concomitant with vertical stability of the water column. A marked interannual variability was also observed, supporting the importance of maintaining long-term observations of the basin.
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